Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Luke: Chapter 5].
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5:1 {Pressed upon him} (\epikeisthai\). Luke in this paragraph
(5:1-11; Mr 1:16-20; Mt 4:18-22) does not follow the chronology
of Mark as he usually does. It seems reasonably clear that the
renewed call of the four fishermen came before the first tour of
Galilee in Lu 4:42-44. It is here assumed that Luke is
describing in his own way the incident given in Mark and Matthew
above. Luke singles out Simon in a graphic way. This verb
\epikeisthai\ is an old one and means to \lie upon\, rest upon as
of a stone on the tomb (Joh 11:38) or of fish on the burning
coals (Joh 21:9). So it is used of a tempest (Ac 27:20) and
of the urgent demands for Christ's crucifixion (Lu 23:23). Here
it vividly pictures the eager crowds around Jesus. \En t•i
epikeisthai\ is a favourite idiom with Luke as we have already
seen, \en\ with the articular infinitive in the locative case.
{That} (\kai\). \Kai\ does not technically mean the declarative
conjunction "that," but it is a fair rendering of the somewhat
awkward idiom of Luke to a certain extent imitating the Hebrew
use of _wav_. {Was standing} (\•n hest•s\). Periphrastic second
past perfect of \hist•mi\ which here is equal to a practical
imperfect. {By the lake} (\para t•n limn•n\). The use of the
accusative with \para\, alongside, after a verb of rest used to
be called the pregnant use, came and was standing. But that is no
longer necessary, for the accusative as the case of extension is
the oldest of the cases and in later Greek regains many of the
earlier uses of the other cases employed for more precise
distinctions. See the same idiom in verse 2. We need not here
stress the notion of extension. "With characteristic accuracy
Luke never calls it a sea, while the others never call it a lake"
(Plummer).
5:2 {Two boats} (\ploia duo\). Some MSS. have \ploiaria\, little
boats, but \ploia\ was used of boats of various sizes, even of
ships like \n•es\. {The fishermen} (\hoi haleeis\). It is an old
Homeric word that has come back to common use in the _Koin•_. It
means "sea-folk" from \hals\, sea. {Were washing} (\eplunon\).
Imperfect active, though some MSS. have aorist \eplunan\. Vincent
comments on Luke's use of five verbs for washing: this one for
cleaning, \apomass•\ for wiping the dust from one's feet
http://www.ccel.org/r/robertson_at/wordpictures/htm/LU5.RWP.html (1 of 10) [28/08/2004 09:05:09 a.m.]
Word Pictures in the New Testament
(Luke: Chapter 5)